Photo: ACI Sport
Prema’s Christian Costoya completed a hat-trick of wins in the penultimate Italian Formula 4 round at Misano as Luka Sammalisto and his US Racing team clinched the drivers’ and teams’ titles.
Last year’s CIK-FIA European and WSK Euro Series karting champion was in unstoppable form all weekend. As is so often the case, once the first win comes, more quickly follow. Costoya dominated both races from pole position, never looking under any serious pressure.
“It was a very positive weekend,” said the McLaren junior. “We were able to adapt to all conditions, both wet and dry. The team did a great job to make this possible, and I’m very grateful to them. We will keep working to improve even further!”
However, attention was focused on US Racing’s Sammalisto who needed just four points to put the title beyond his rivals’ reach with a round to spare. He achieved his goal with a charging drive through the field in the third heat, making up 12 positions from his grid slot. Sadly, his day ended in the gravel as he got caught up in somebody else’s incident in the final, but the celebrations had long since begun.
With the fastest driver in qualifying, Jenzer Motorsport’s Teo Borenstein, dropping eight positions on the grid after being adjudged to have caused a collision in race two, Costoya started the third and final heat from pole position, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Thomas Bearman starting alongside him on the front row.
Costoya immediately jumped into the lead when the lights went out and never came under threat, running out winner by 1.8s from Bearman, with US Racing’s Edu Robinson in third.
Jenzer’s Elia Weiss put in another strong performance to take fourth, setting the fastest lap in the process, with Trident’s Augustus Toniolo in fifth.
With little excitement at the front of the field, all eyes were on the progress of Sammalisto from 24th on the grid. The Finn was into the points by lap seven but was unable to find a way past Prema’s Roman Kamyab.
However, the pair both made progress, demoting the US Racing duo of Ludovico Busso and Oleksandr Savinkov, to move into the top 12. Sammalisto was still pressurizing Kamyab on the final lap but with six points in the bag had no need to push.
Costoya made another perfect getaway from pole position with Prema’s Alp Aksoy looking for an opening before slotting in behind. The US Racing pair of Edu Robinson and Noah Killion followed in third and fourth with VAR’s Alex Rutas in fifth.
The top five positions remained unchanged throughout in a largely uneventful race, with R-ace GP’s Kenzo Craigie passing Toniolo for sixth three laps from home.
The safety car was deployed on lap three when Cram Motorsport’s Dean Pedersen appeared to clip Borenstein, pitching the turquoise Jenzer car sideways and inadvertently catching the following Sammalisto. Both Pedersen and the champion-elect were out on the spot, a sad way for Sammalisto’s weekend to finish.
However, the day was still his to savour. “It feels really amazing. We worked really hard with the team to achieve this, and finally here in Misano we got it. Overall, it has been a really tough weekend. Qualifying was difficult for me, I just couldn’t find the pace.
“The team did a great job and now we are back on track and we are really fast. For me, US Racing is family, I cannot thank them enough. I’m really grateful for the opportunity they gave me this year. It feels amazing to be the Italian Formula 4 Champion,” he said after the race.
Championship standings
1 Sammalisto 386 2 Aksoy 318 3 Bansal 293 4 Cosma-Cristofor 286 5 Craigie 252 6 Robinson 274 7 Bearman 223 8 Savinkov 199 9 Costoya 194 10 Maccagnani 178